Jay-Z:"I was looking for a cause to attach myself to," he said. "I knew I was going to some places where there was problems and as soon as I came across the problems of water, I was like — this is it....Three people die every three minutes … from easily preventable diseases."
In the town of Luanda, Angola, he followed 14-year-old Bela, who must fetch and carry 40 pounds of water, twice a day. When he offered to help share the burden and carry the water on a one-half-mile trek, he was taken aback by the sheer strength that was required.
"It's not only 40 pounds … it's water so it moves," he said. "And the roads, they aren't paved. It's not like walking on perfectly paved Fifth Avenue. You're walking on rocks and it's a dirt road and the water is moving. I couldn't walk to the end of the block holding it. I had to switch hands about three times."
"It made me realize, you know they say 'I'm from the bottom.' It's not really the bottom, because you have water, and roads [that] are paved, and you can go to school … You don't have to play out in open sewage. Now that's the 'hood."
abc
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